I GOT MY NEW HARNESS

[lucky seven]

I know I need to take measurements, but my boy is 9h, is he concidered a B mini or a small pony? Also should I look at pony carts to make sure I get shafts that aren't too short? The last time I measured for length, I figured a 52" shaft length. Mini carts are advertised with 48".

 

[paintponylvr]

I know I need to take measurements, but my boy is 9h, is he concidered a B mini or a small pony? Also should I look at pony carts to make sure I get shafts that aren't too short? The last time I measured for length, I figured a 52" shaft length. Mini carts are advertised with 48".

Lucky Seven - I am not sure... My smallest pony/mini is 35" at the withers & largest (of this particular group) is 40" at the withers. When I took my measurements up to the harness shop I've been dealing with in OH, they told me all of the ones I did measurements for, fit in their harness for mini draft style. The measurements that I did were height, around the girth (for saddle), back length from saddle to dock (hip strap/crupper), flank to flank (breeching), mid chest to point of buttock - not sure but think this conforms to other lengths & for traces. Collar size. For bridle - from mouth corner over poll to mouth corner, brow band and around muzzle approx 1" below jaw bones. The mini sized driving lines are slightly narrower and also a bit shorter.

Now my other 40" pony won't fit in the Mini harness - she's bigger, bulkier & slightly longer than the 40" stallion above. She wears a 14" collar vs the 12 & 13" ones the smaller pony/minis do with hames that are also larger. She wears what the shop calls "small pony" size.

I believe you want from 10-12" behind the hocks (to the cart) to work with. Again - several of the shops that I've seen seem to have interchangeable shaft sizes - making it much easier to continue w/ driving. Some are very ez to change out - others would be a major undertaking!! And even those places that don't list them seperate - if you ask - they might be able to swap them out for the longer ones. Some places only have the two sizes and others work totally custom...

 

[susanne]

lucky seven, 9 hands is 36", which is a medium-sized B mini. Since you speak of hands, I suspect you may be measuring at the top of the withers, whereas minis are measured at the last mane hair (or roughly the bottom of the withers), so he is likely around 35" measured as a mini. He *should* fit a B-sized harness, but you still need to measure, as not all minis have the same proportions.

CTM has 54" shafts for their mini cart, but they are listed on their accessories page http://www.ctmproducts.com/CartAccessories/CartsAccessories.htm

We have these for our 38" gelding, and they are perfect.